


The Plan of Attack

by ArtemisRae



Series: Alphabet Challenge [48]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-11
Updated: 2010-11-11
Packaged: 2017-10-21 15:31:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/226741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtemisRae/pseuds/ArtemisRae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Breda does absolutely nothing special to impress Olivia Armstrong</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Plan of Attack

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a second round of Alphabet Challenge at my LJ, where I'm given a prompt for every letter of the alphabet. my prompt for this fic was "strategy"

* * *

  
_strategy_  
-noun  
1\. A plan of action intended to accomplish a specific goal  


* * *

The affections of Olivia Armstrong, Breda figures out, have absolutely nothing to do with any actual affection. Instead, they appear to be based entirely upon how useful she finds someone.

To be fair, he himself doesn’t realize that at first – in fact, he doesn’t realize that what he’s seeking from her is any kind of approval at all. At first, all he wants is for her to stop making his life difficult.

Breda is the one Roy asks to serve as a liaison between his staff and hers while they’re rebuilding Amestris. While he wants to protest, he’s been assured he is the only one who could possibly keep his wits about him when exposed to the general – besides Riza, but Roy claims he needs her for other tasks and can’t possibly add this to her list of responsibilities. “Just keep her happy,” Roy begs. “So that I don’t have to deal with her.”

At first Breda hates every minute of the work. Sometimes she flat out refuses to see him; when she does acquiesce, she criticizes everything from his uniform (“Unkempt, unbecoming”) to his smell (“Tomorrow you put that cigar out before you come into my office so you don’t carry the stench in with you.”) to his paperwork (“I’m not signing something I cannot read.”) and more than once, Breda fantasizes about quitting, marching into Roy’s office and declaring that this isn’t what he signed up for.

Instead: he fixes his uniform, tucks in his shirt. He smokes on his lunch break. He puts his paperwork in order. Breda makes himself… useful.

The first time he makes it through a meeting without a single scathing comment, he’s elated.

And once he realizes _why_ he’s elated – why it’s even important to him that this woman sees him as useful – he knows that there is no point in expending energy in any of those fancy girl things like chocolates or flowers or poems. Instead his strategy is to lay low and work as hard as he can.

And not tell anyone. Havoc’s going to have a field day with this one.

He knows the exact moment he’s made it. It’s one of those instances where it’s one o’clock in the morning and there’s a meeting tomorrow and these papers need signed _right now_ or else Amestris is going to fall into ruin.

He goes to the Armstrong estate for her signature, and he’s perfectly in uniform, his eyes bright, and his voice clear and strong. He doesn’t look like he’s been forcefully rolled out of bed by three frantic phone calls demanding this paperwork. He doesn’t sound sleepy, no bags under his eyes or yawn in his voice. He looks exactly like he will at eight am – ready to confront the day, raring to go.

When the servant shows Olivia into the study where he’s waiting, she’s also completely in uniform, not a pin or lapel out of place. He would suspect that she sleeps in it, except that he’s realized she’s trying to intimidate him, and not only is he prepared for it, _he takes her by surprise._

 _Surprise_ for Olivia Armstrong is nothing more than an extra three seconds to gaze at him. Her face doesn’t twitch, her eyes don’t light up. But he’s got her, he knows. When he goes to leave, she tells him so:

“Good work,” she says, shuffling the papers and handing them back to him. “I’ll need you to come in an hour early to brief the staff on the meeting.”

Breda walks out with a bounce in his step.


End file.
